Fresh off the first road win of the Brian Kelly era, the Irish look to even up their record at 3-3 on Saturday as they host the Pittsburgh Panthers in South Bend. The last game of the first half of the season is a critical one for the Irish because a win would present a good opportunity to win 7 straight games prior to their finale against USC in the Memorial Coliseum of Los Angeles. Some may...

Day 2 of Pittsburgh week…Interesting story line: Brian Kelly is quite familiar with Pitt after spending three years in the Big East. Kelly beat the Panthers last year in a final weekend shootout that sent the Bearcats to a BCS bowl. It was also the infamous game where Kelly reportedly told his players, in a speech to inspire unity and brotherhood, that he had decided to come back to Cin...

Take this opportunity to relish in the fact that Notre Dame is undefeated in October. It may be just one game, but the schedule over the course of the years tenth month is more favorable then September, for sure. It's not an impossibility that “undefeated in October” tag could stick for a long time.
This is the month that Brian Kellys year one plan will be fully explored. It was har...

For once, Notre Dame lived up to expectations. For once, they executed a game plan for 60 consecutive minutes. Well, maybe not 60, but at least enough to beat a Boston College team that really really stinks. But that’s not a criticism; this is what these types of games are for.
These are games where you can make a couple mistakes and still win comfortably. They are good for the players. They ...

This is “The Holy War,” right? One of America’s best and most storied college football rivalries? Hardly seams like it. Lately, Boston College has been just as bad as the Irish, if not worse. Tonight may seem more like a battle of the inept then a clash of two Catholic powerhouses.
Last week, we mused about the fascinating parallel between Notre Dame and Stanford. N...

I hate picking road teams on Thursday nights, but I'm going to take Texas A&M over Oklahoma State tonight. I don't like the Cowboy defense and am unconvinced that they can put up the same kind of offensive numbers that they did against Troy,Tulsa, and Washington State.
Here are some cool links….
Ben Turk talks about his awful start to the year – Chicagobreakingsports.com
An anal...

If you've ever read my bio below all my columns, you know that I host two radio shows a week. I've been doing talk shows since I was 15 years old. However, I've never been on TV. That was… until yesterday.
Thanks so much to Deniz Kofteci and the good people at speakingchannel.tv for inviting prosportsblogging.com to be on the sports blogging discussion panel. Being just a hop, skip...

A lot of teams across the country right now in college football runs some short of the spread offense. Some may want to pass out of it more, some may want to run out of it more, but you see some short of spread offense way more then you don't. The I-formation seems to be a lost art. Having a full back, having a special package once you get near the goal line or in short yardage. CMU is one of t...

The turning point of a football game seldom comes before one team has run an offensive play. Heck, it seldom comes in the first half. But, in the case of yesterday’s Notre Dame loss to Stanford, it came on the first offensive series.
A muffed punt with eight and a half minutes left in the first quarter gave Notre Dame the ball in the red zone. Instead of punching it into the end zone and se...

These aren’t your fathers Stanford Cardinal. Heck, they aren’t even your brothers’ Stanford Cardinal. What Jim Harbaugh has done with this school is astounding. And he doesn’t get enough credit for it. 3-0 and really good, Stanford may be a dark horse for a Pac – 10 title and a BCS bid. Heck, if Oregon State loses to Boise State, would it be insane to call it a two horse race? Or, mor...

There are two ways to look at the 1-2 start to the Brian Kelly era. One can easily say, “well, it's just like last year's team under Weis, close games that we always seem to lose at the end because our defense can't stop anyone in the 4th quarter.” Or one could say, “this is the best 1-2 team in America. An obscure Dayne Crist injury and the most ridiculous fake field go...

I woke up to a fascinating email on my phone this morning. It shed some statistical light on why Notre Dame has struggled so much in the early part of the season. Clearly, it's not just bad luck. Here are some bullet points:
- Defensivly, Notre Dame has given up an average of 7.5 yards on first down. They have also allowed 15 “long gains” for 445 yards.
- Almost half of all offens...